Bank Transfers

Hi

According to my contract 70% of my salary is available to turn into foreign currency. The last time I was in China I just left with great wadges of RMB secrected about my luggage and person. This time however, I might need to transfer money home to pay bills etc here in the UK.

Has anyone any experience of bank transfers (electronic) straight into their accounts at home, is it possible? Is it easy?  Or is there a system like Western Union where I would have to have someone in the UK collect the transaction and get it into my bank.

Any feedback would be gratefully received.

Hi


Has anyone any experience of bank transfers (electronic) straight into their accounts at home, is it possible? Is it easy? 

It is possible, you just need to fill out a load of forms and bring a copy of your contract/passport/FEC etc, and know all the swift codes/iban numbers of the accounts you want to send to.

How easy it is will depend on how much help you get. Even though the forms are in English I imagine you will need quite a lot of help. 

Took me three hours last time I did it (small town Henan). 

If you can get the money in GBP and put it into your account then the rest is easy.  You might even be able to do it yourself online.

Or is there a system like Western Union where I would have to have someone in the UK collect the transaction and get it into my bank.

There is a system exactly like that. It's called Western Union. 

I transferred money all the time to my bank in Canada.  It is a bit complicated, but once you figure out the process it is relatively easy.  The first time, you need to take someone from the school office or a student with you to do the translating.  The forms are in English though. 

You need to make sure that the school gives you a copy of the tax receipt from the govt to show you paid taxes on your income.  This was newly introduced about 3 yrs ago and was a total pain in the butt because the university staff couldn't/wouldn't figure it out.  Once they figured it out, it was a piece of cake getting the correct paperwork.

Also, many many Foreign Teachers take a Chinese friend or student with them and have them do the transfer for you.  They don't need to show any proof of income, just the ID card. 

You will need to get all the codes from your bank to do a direct transfer.  Swift Code, Bank Code, etc etc.  Your bank will know what you need to do the transfer.

I never used Western Union  but many others did/do.  It is easier for Americans to use as Western Union will only accept US funds (not Canadian funds).  Not sure about British funds.  I would have had to change my RMB into US dollars, then whoever picked up the money would have had to deposit it into my bank and I would have had to pay the exchange rate to go from US to Canadian.

Anyhow, whatever way you choose, the process will prevent the need for you to stuff your suitcase full of RMB.   

It is a bit complicated, but once you figure out the process it is relatively easy.

I would like to nominate this for the quotes hall of fame.

Nothing ever written in this forum ever described China better than this.

I use the "bring a Chinese friend" method to wire money to the US.  I normally pride myself on figuring out how to do things, but it isn't worth the hassle in my opinion, in this case.  A Chinese friend can convert money into foreign currency with no hassles or forms to fill.  Bank of China will charge a 50 RMB fee for conversion and a 150 RMB wire fee.  My US bank usually reports the receipt within the next US business day, depending on when the transaction occurred. 

Western Union does not do British pounds.

Usually I have to sit and wait for a time until a opportunity presents itself to get a Chinese person to send some money to my account since my employer refuses to provide a FEC and claims there is no tax paper as foreigners don't pay tax.

I have found that the communications back during the summer may have vastly lower fees as part of a summer promotion aimed at students going overseas that can be taken advantage of.

Western Union does not do British pounds.

Usually I have to sit and wait for a time until a opportunity presents itself to get a Chinese person to send some money to my account since my employer refuses to provide a FEC and claims there is no tax paper as foreigners don't pay tax.

I have found that the communications back during the summer may have vastly lower fees as part of a summer promotion aimed at students going overseas that can be taken advantage of.

5 rmb says you're probably working illegally in that case.

Like others are saying... just ask a Chinese person to do it. You can send as much as you want then. You'll owe them a favor though depending on how many trips to the bank you make. It can take hours waiting in line sometimes.

Western Union does not do British pounds.

Won't they take dollars, send that to the UK, then convert to pounds for to you collect? It was certainly like that a few years ago. You could send shortly before you leave, and collect it when you get to the UK. I'm not sure how long you have to collect the payment, but no doubt you can find out online. However, Western Union is quite expensive, usually costing significantly more than a bank-to-bank transfer.

Aren't the Chinese limited to the amount of RMB they can convert per year?  If memory serves,(and it rarely does anymore), it's about 50,000.  Which is fine if that person is not planning on going overseas much, but could put him in a bind.

Besides, travelling with tens of thousands of RMB in cash can make an otherwise boring trip much more interesting.  Just pretend you're Jason Bourne.

I recently transferring a large amount back to the US and it was much easier than I'd expected. I think this is one of those things that can be a bureaucratic nightmare or be surprisingly straightforward depending on the teller you are working with. Regardless, unless your bank is giving you a truly miserable exchange rate, a bank transfer should be way cheaper than using Western Union, especially if you are transferring a large amount of money.

My money was already in USD (and in a kind of a unique account where the funds were sent from abroad) but it was 100rmb + 0.01% of the amount transferred. The bank in the US I sent it to couldn't directly receive the funds, so the intermediary banks took about $30 off the the amount I sent before it finally reached my account. The max amount they could send was USD $30K, per day.

Like others have said, it needs to be converted into USD and you'll need the SWIFT code and address of the foreign bank. At least in my case, I had to the transfer at the exact branch of the bank my account was opened in. The difficulties around having the tax proof will probably depend on how hard the teller wants to make life for you! I'm not really sure having a Chinese person to help will really give you any advantage other than allowing you to exchange more rmb for usd at a time.

That sounds great except for the part about the intermediate bank. How do you choose this bank and what kind of communication did you have to do to prepare all the parties involved?

That sounds great except for the part about the intermediate bank. How do you choose this bank and what kind of communication did you have to do to prepare all the parties involved?

The only thing I really did to prepare was ask my US bank for all their information to do the transfer. I think some large US banks can receive the funds directly- like Bank of America and Chase (although Chase charges a $15 fee). I just brought this information to the bank and the teller filled out the form for me and I double checked that the information was correct and paid the fee to transfer it. My bank in China is CITIC and even though they said it would take a week, the money was in my US account 24 hours later. Like I said, it was much easier than I expected and exceeded my expectations. A few days earlier I'd asked about doing the transfer at a different branch and they had brought up needing tax receipts- but they also couldn't do it on a Sunday. Going to the branch where the account was opened seemed to nullify any problems- but I do imagine your milage will vary with the teller you get.

For example- yesterday I went to the bank to check my balance. I can't see the USD balance at an ATM, so I thought I'd just swing into the bank on my lunch break. I was firmly told I could not check my balance seeing as I didn't have my passport. So I walked two blocks away to another branch and they printed out a sheet with my balance, no problem. *sigh*

Yeah that figures. I opened up my account under my old passport a year before its expiration. You probably guessed it; with my new passport I sometimes have no issues and other times they demand a document that links the old to the new which I doubt even exists. I know I should close the old and open a new but that would take all the suspense out of it.